Kronos Quartet and Brad Mehldau's performances at Koerner Hall in Toronto this week, part of The Royal Conservatory's 21C Music Festival, will stream live at rcmusic.ca/livestream, this Wednesday, May 25, and Thursday, respectively, both at 8 PM ET. Kronos is joined by special guest Tanya Tagaq for the world premiere her new piece written for Kronos' Fifty for the Future project. Mehldau performs his Three Pieces After Bach, of the Guardian exclaimed: "A dense and dazzling recital of Bach’s classics and the compositions and improvisations inspired by them makes this a powerful, thought-provoking gig."

Lake Street Dive, following sold-out shows in London and Dublin this spring, and performances on both BBC Two's Later… with Jools Holland and RTÉ's The Late Late Show, will return to Europe this autumn for a tour of the UK and Ireland. The November run includes dates in Gateshead, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, Belfast, Dublin, and Cork, and a London show at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on November 10. Tickets go on sale this Thursday, May 26. The band resumes its US tour on Friday, May 27.

Brad Mehldau Trio concludes European tour in France and Switzerland … Laurie Anderson is at Moogfest as Heart of a Dog opens in UK … The Bad Plus Joshua Redman plays Brazil … Jeremy Denk performs with Detroit Symphony Orchestra … Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell play Nashville benefit … Kronos Quartet concludes UK tour … Pat Metheny takes up residency at Blue Note Tokyo … Youssou N’Dour returns to Brooklyn … Conor Oberst performs in his hometown of Omaha … Rokia Traoré is in Morocco … and more …

The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA) has announced its 2016–17 season, and featured among the artists performing this season are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Pat Metheny, Kronos Quartet, and The Magnetic Fields. The season also includes a dance performance set to music by Laurie Anderson and more.

American Tunes, the final recording from legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint, is due out June 10, 2016, on Nonesuch Records. It was produced by Joe Henry and features both solo piano recordings and others made with musicians including Bill Frisell and special guest Rhiannon Giddens. In this article, writer Michael Hill examines the story behind the album and presents reflections on Toussaint and his legacy from fellow musicians Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, Irma Thomas, and Aaron Neville; author Tom Piazza; and the album's producer, Joe Henry.

In memory of Guy Clark, the title track to his 1992 Nonesuch album, Boats to Build

Laurie Anderson's new film, Heart of a Dog, which opens in cinemas in the UK and Ireland this Friday, was shown in select screenings last week: one at the Brighton Festival, of which she is guest director, and two in London, including one for a very special audience of dogs (and their human companions). The Guardian was at that last event and has published a video taking a look behind the scenes. You can watch it here.

Sleeping In A Car, a three-song EP from the English trio The Staves, is out now. The EP was recorded in Eau Claire, WI, at Justin Vernon's April Base studio and also at Urchin Studios in London. Physical CDs of the EP will be available exclusively on the Staves' North American tour, which begins June 3. The sisters said of the EP: "These songs reflect the transient nature of travelling. Fleeting moments, like a slide show—reflections in car windows, streetlights passing in rhythm, stolen phone calls, late nights. Feelings of displacement and a disconnect—living in some sort of alternate state of reality. But underneath it all is the feeling of adventure and making your own rules and how dizzying and freeing that can be." You can watch a video for the title track here.

Laurie Anderson spoke with BBC Radio 6 Music's Lauren Laverne, BBC Radio 4's Front Row, and BBC Radio 2's The Arts Show with Jonathan Ross about her new film, Heart of a Dog, and the Brighton Festival, of which she is Guest Director. She gave the UK premiere of her Music for Dogs concert at the festival this week and will perform there again next week. Heart of a Dog opens in the UK, Ireland, and Denmark, where she performs her piece Language of the Future this Saturday.

Devendra Banhart leads two-day mini-festival at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis … John Adams conducts Baltimore Symphony, Jeremy Denk … Sam Amidon is in Germany … Laurie Anderson brings Language of the Future to Denmark … Tyondai Braxton plays FORM Arcosanti Festival in Phoenix … Olivia Chaney plays Purcell at London Festival of Baroque Music … Emmylou Harris heads benefit show in Nashville … Kronos Quartet continues UK tour … Brad Mehldau Trio tours Europe … Punch Brothers conclude US tour in Chicago … and more …

The Americana Music Association announced its nominations for the 2016 Americana Honors & Awards, and among the nominees for Duo/Group of the Year are Lake Street Dive, which made its Nonesuch debut with the release of Side Pony, and Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, who released their second duo album together, The Traveling Kind. The Americana Honors & Awards return to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on September 21.

Rokia Traoré was the guest on NPR's World Cafe. She spoke with host David Dye about her new album, Né So, and performed three songs from the album: "Obiké," "Ilé," and "Strange Fruit." Find out what she has to say and hear the performances here. Traoré takes her Né So tour to the Festival Mawazine in Morocco later this month, followed by shows throughout France and the UK, including a set at the Glastonbury Festival in June.